Question

If you are/were a teacher, or based on your experiences as a student, do you think its strange for a teacher to take off points on an essay for the word "very?" I see how it's overused, but it helps to differentiate the degree of something.
Ms. Sue
If the instuctions were to avoid the use of "very," then it makes sense to take off points for using this word.

Writeacher
If you use it once in a paper, it's not a big deal, but if you use it all over the place, I would do the same thing! Try writing without using "very" at all. If you don't think the word you want to modify with "very" is strong enough, find a better word.
bobpursley
My first essay was very bad also. I overused very very much. I didn't take the teacher's critisms very kindly, and was very irritated that she gave me a very poor grade. After all, I was very tired when I wrote it, and very unhappy with my grade when she took off very much, as I think she should have taken off very little. And besides, it is my very own business what words I overuse.

Now here is a question for you...
Is your teacher giving you a message? Tell her thanks.
Ms. Sue
Well-stated, Bobpursley! :-)